Entry: a conflict between the Israelis and the Arabs in
the Middle East. The United Nations established Israel, a nation under control
of Jews, in Palestine in the late 1940's, in territory inhabited by Palestinian
Arabs. Israel was placed in the midst of four Arab nations - Lebanon, Syria,
Jordan, and Egypt - and the presence of Israel has led to constant contention
between Israel and the Arab World. Both the Israelis and the Arabs claim land in
Palestine as theirs by ancestral rights and war has periodically broken out
between them.